20 Questions
by SYuuri
Summary: Back of the jeep, hot chocolate coffee, 20 questions, Sam and Jules. xxONESHOTxx


**20 Questions**

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**Disclaimer:**** Flashpoint belongs to whoever created it. Those people are effin brilliant. **

**:: My fourth Flashpoint fic! And it's yet another one-shot. I may do chaptered stories later in the future, but for now I hope you like this. **

**:: Spoilers for 01x04 – Asking for Flowers.**

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"I heard you're a really great swimmer," Jules stated, her eyes twinkling with unhidden mirth. The light evening snack had been tasty and sitting there now at the back of her jeep, trying to unwind after a long day of work with a plastic cup of steaming chocolate coffee cupped between her palms, she couldn't think of a nicer thing to do.

"Yeah?"

"I did. Were you in the swim team?" She asked innocently, unsuccessfully holding back a slight giggle.

Sam appeared sheepish all of a sudden. His fingers raked through the neat blond locks just to find something to do to distract him from her teasing question. "Yeah, I admit, I'm not the biggest fan of water,"

"No?" Jules asked, mentally debating whether she would continue reminding Sam of his not so finest talent or let him off the hook. Ed had made a joke in front of the entire team with poor Sam ducked his head down onto his chest in slight embarrassment. Being a rookie did have its disadvantages.

"Nah…," Sam shook his head, stealing a glance at her before averting his eyes to anything that didn't look like his new teammate, like his shoes for instance. "I was raised in the desert. I don't have lots of swimming experience,"

Jules carefully put the plastic cup between her and Sam and leaned over curiously. She bit back her smile. "Sam Braddock, is that a blush I'm looking at right now?"

That did the trick and Sam turned sideways until they were sitting face to face so fast he almost knocked her chocolate coffee. Jules tilted her head up, her chin jutting out as a silent challenge for him to deny the undeniable. "What, are you like an Olympic swimmer or something all of a sudden? Snatched a few gold medals in Greece years ago?"

Jules paused; the rim of the cup was a whisper away from her lips. Another second passed and she casually took a long sip. "You're still a rookie, Braddock. Behave." His reply was only a grin before he turned back to his previous sitting position. She cringed inwardly. Ed hadn't forgot to tell her about his insecurities being the newbie. Sure, his initial arrogance and the whole I-could-handle-everything behavior had been kind of annoying, but at the same time she could also see that he was working on it. There had been a progress going and Sam's slowly but surely fitting in into the team. She got a feeling they would be exchanging Christmas presents this year. Instead of apologizing, Jules leaned back and nudged Sam's leg with the tip of her foot.

"What?"

"Let's play 20 Questions," Was out of her mouth before she could give the idea a second thought. Now that she had said it out, it was not that bad of an idea. Perhaps one day Spike would hold an SRU pop quiz regarding Sam's shoe size with a toaster for the first prize. Her kitchen definitely could use a new toaster.

"20 questions?" Sam asked back. It came out more of a surprise over the invitation than lack of knowledge.

Jules smiled. For some unknown reasons she was in a playful mood tonight. "You know, I get to ask you a question and then you get to ask me a question and so on and so on and so on,"

He had the guts to wink at her. "Smart ass,"

She shrugged as if it was not a really big deal, which it wasn't, really, it's only a game. "Aside from your name, your job and the fact that you were in the swim team," She couldn't hold her tongue, grinning when he growled under his breath. "-you are a John Doe for me. Exhibit A."

"Alright, I'm not trying to flatter myself here. I know that you're just being nice and I don't want to read into this, but I don't want to screw everything I've worked for by getting personal. Sorry, but the team comes first," Unrehearsed, unplanned, the words waltzed its way out of his mouth. The result was immediate.

"As if!" Jules' eyes went saucer. Her mouth gaped open since she hadn't been expecting that kind of reply. Then her lips twisted into a bittersweet smile. "You really are a jerk, you know?"

Sam laughed out loud. He had to suppress the desire to pump his fist in victory in front of her. It wasn't really the brightest move to do in front of a potential 'someone special', he reckoned. Yes, he wouldn't deny that he was attracted to the lady sniper. Still, it felt good to see her stunned and speechless. Braddock –1, Callaghan -1. "Okay, that sounds pretty cool. What should we ask each other?"

"Oh, you know, the basic getting-to-know-you questions. Like How much money you have on you? Where do you keep your wallet? What is your PIN numbers? Something like that," She finished with a satisfactory grin.

"Omigod that was so _hilarious_," Sam replied, making sure she didn't miss the sarcasm. He was still smiling nonetheless. Damn. "Fine, we'll keep it G-rated,"

"We'll play nice," Jules nodded her head in agreement.

"Ladies first, ask away,"

And so it was on.

"Favorite food?"

"Anything Italian. Favorite color?"

Jules chuckled. "To tell you the truth, I don't really have a favorite color. When I was ten I was crazy over the color red. Then when I was in junior high I loved purple. I didn't even know why, just because. Then I remember stocking my wardrobe with every pink clothes I could find," She visibly shudder at the memory and threw Sam a dirty warning look when his body started to shake.

"Frilly pink dresses?" He managed to choke out, openly laughing now. "All lace and ribbons?"

"For the past few years, it has been blue," Jules shot daggers at him, opting to ignore his mocking of her choice of clothing and muffled laughter. "_Because_," She went on, giving the word extra emphasize to gain his attention back. "--because blue is soothing and beautiful, just like the sky after a rainstorm. Don't make me grab my gun and shoot you, Sam. I don't need a –Scorpio- to do that,"

Sam held up both hands in a surrender gesture. How she wished she could slap that shit eating grin off his face. "That was actually a kinda cute image, Jules. It was a compliment,"

"Oh please," Jules kicked his leg this time. Fortunately for both of them, he instantly shut up although a smile was still hovering near his lips. She tried not to see it. "What's your lucky number?"

"Seven. They don't call it lucky number seven for nothing, you know. Favorite all-time movie?"

"1939's Wizard of Oz,"

They were asking each other back and forth and somewhere between 'what's your favorite ice cream flavor' and 'what's your favorite Halloween costume', they shifted until their backs were pressed against the backseats and their shoulders nearly touched.

Jules closed her eyes. This was nice. It was relaxing. Tomorrow was another day. No doubt there's probably a bunch of psychos scheming yet another evil plans as they were sitting there now. They all probably believed all the rumors about the end of the world in 2012 that they felt they had to act now before they run out of time.

But right then and there, she was simply enjoying the quiet time before the madness hit. They were only two new friends and partners who were trying to get to know each other better. Sam was surprisingly easy to talk to; even some of his really terrible jokes managed to crack her laughing.

"What's the most spontaneous thing you have ever done?" Sam asked. They had patted down the regular, customary questions and had walked into the not so basic questions area five minutes prior, opened with Jules' what's something you couldn't live without'. His answer, surprisingly, was books. Any kind of books, especially ones about historical things. Surprising much?

"I don't know if you could count this as spontaneous or not, but when I was sixteen I was seeing this guy named Jared," She chuckled. Sixteen… Boy, how time really went by so quickly. "Anyway, I had a really bad day at school. Everything was a mess. I got a C for a paper I'd done nearly three days straight and got into a quarrel with my bestfriend over a stupid thing. When I went home, the house was in a total mess. It was probably close to the picture of the Titanic after it hit the iceberg, everything's scattered... That's what you got living with 4 pigs who happened to be your brothers, and to put the cherry on top, my eldest brother had somehow turned my favorite shirt from white to pink," She paused before taking a deep gulp of air. Walking down the memory lane, especially one she didn't really care for, was tiring to say the least. "We had a date that night, Jared and me. But well, that boy had always had a problem with tardiness and he made me wait for nearly an hour. Do not, I repeat, do _not_ make me wait. It's one of the 1001 forbidden rules of being friends with Julianna Callaghan,"

"Duly noted, Miss," Jules looked positively beautiful when she was angry, with red tinted cheeks and brown eyes flaming with anger. Her teeth were gnawing at her bottom lip and Sam was pretty sure it was a habit she wasn't aware of.

"Everything had been bottled up all day and when he finally arrived, I opened the door and I just punched him."

Whoa, what? "Excuse me?"

They were looking at each other in total silence before she burst out laughing. Sam was looking at her as though she just grew a second head and it only fueled her even more. "Yeah, I punched him straight in the face. Gosh, it was really awkward," She managed to say between giggles. After the realization dawned in, Sam snorted and joined in. She couldn't even remember the last time she laughed that hard; tears streaming down her cheeks and her stomach hurt. "Stop, please," Jules whimpered. "I don't want to wet my pants,"

It set them off more and it wasn't until five minutes later the laughter began to subside. She rested her head on his shoulder, feeling as weak as a kitten. This was fun. It was one of those moments where you're not really sure why you laughed so hard yet you did anyway because you wanted to. "Okay, I'm tired now," She commented softly. She realized where her head rested against, but she was too drained to pull away.

"That's badass, Jules," Sam said, still chuckling. It was a freezing Thursday night but her closeness kept him warm. Tried as hard as he might, he couldn't help but breathing in her scent deeply. Jules smelled like honeysuckle and lilac and coffee.

"Thank you very much,"

"You're welcome. Come on, it's your turn now," Sam prompted, nudging her arm with his elbow.

Jules closed her eyes and did a little brainstorming. At first the questions had come really easily she didn't even have to think about it. Favorite food, favorite color, favorite books… now after almost an hour she had started running out of questions. "What is your happiest childhood memory?"

Beneath her head, she could feel Sam's body tense and she lifted her head to get a better look at his face. His expression was hard to read. Granted, a few weeks was not a really long time to know someone well, but she always had been good at reading people; a talent that always came handy albeit a bit frustrating, at times. The excitement that had been there before slowly wilted. "Sam?"

He looked down at her, seemed to be aware that she was watching him with imploring eyes. "Sorry, I was a million years away,"

"Further than that, I'd say. You okay?"

"Happiest childhood memory, huh? Let's see…,"

Jules put her head back against the backrest and waited, giving him the space and time he needed. What had happened in Kandahar was an open secret now; she couldn't imagine having to be where he had stood; having to go through an emotional pain so great you started asking yourself whether there's still a God up there. From snippets spreading around his father was an iceberg; high ranking military officer and all that… she wouldn't expect there had been lots of father and son bonding time happening a lot in the past.

"Growing up, I often visited my grandparents. Grandpa Joe and Grandma Kathy. They're the best. Dad was the fourth child from seven. Uncle Jack died from a heart attack and Uncle Bobby was killed in war, Uncle Jim and Aunt Jane weren't married so that only left me and three other kids from my Uncle Brian and Uncle Bill. I'm proud to say though, that I was Grandpa Joe's favorite,"

Jules didn't need to see his face to feel him smiling.

"They had really nice trees behind the house. I loved watching Grandma Kathy preserving. Hands down, her cinnamon apple pie was the best, still is. Grandpa would go hunting and bring back rabbits or pigeon or deer. When he first returned home with a rabbit, I burst into tears. I was so mad at him for killing such a cute, fluffy animals and I refused to talk to him for a month and a half," Sam laughed quietly, sounding upset and delighted at the same time that Jules put her hand on top of his. He glanced at her appreciatively, thankful for the gesture. "Every weekend Grandpa would take me on his boat to the lake to fish. That was our weekly routine before he got too sick to do that anymore. There were so many fond memories with them, in their countryside house across the lake. I guess that's the happiest I felt when I was a kid,"

"That was beautiful," Jules said and was actually meant it. Four of her grandparents had long gone and aside from Grandpa Steven loathing her dad for marrying her mom and her mother's parents skipping their only child's wedding, Jules didn't have many memories of them.

"I didn't bore you?"

"That sounded very Little House in the Prairie-ish. I used to love that show," She answered.

"Thank you," The quietness fell upon them afterward was not awkward; quite the opposite it was like a warm blanket, soothing and comfortable.

"Your turn,"

"What is your guilty pleasure?"

"Sitting in my room with a crime novel on my lap and a bucket of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie followed with a handful of cold red M&M's," The answer came out without an ounce of hesitation. "What? You didn't think my guilty pleasure was watching Power Rangers rerun, pretending I was that chick in pink spandex and mooning over the White Ranger, did you?"

"No," Sam shook his head, grinning like a madman. They were bantering and he adored it. She had made it clear that there were boundaries she would never cross but hey, one never knows. "More like the Red ranger, and damn, that Pink ranger was smokin," He leered.

Sighing hard, Jules poked him before jumping down. "It's been fun, but we have to get back. It's getting late,"

"Come on, that was kinda sexy," Sam said, frantically trying to convince her that he wasn't making fun of her. Well, he _was_, but it was with good intention all the way. "I thought we were having fun?"

"Yeah, yeah," Jules slipped behind the wheels.

"Come on, ask me something, anything!"

She glanced at him through the rear view mirror. He was swinging his arms like a five year old and he was actually pouting like a five year old. Adorable, Braddock. "Fine, describe yourself in a single word,"

"Samtastic," Short and straight to the point. Bulls eye.

She rolled her eyes and started the engine. Sam was still defending himself -- _what? It _is _a word, you know. Check your dictionary!_-- while picking up their drinks and dumping them in the nearest thrash can.

When she was sure he wasn't looking, Jules smiled.

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**:: Thank you for reading. A virtual Sam hug for anyone who could find the inside joke! Reviews are loved (:**


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